Takoyaki
I’ve been wanting to make takoyaki for awhile now. The first time I had takoyaki was when we lived in Portland. There was a Japanese lady who would sell it in a cart outside of Uwajimaya (a huge Asian grocery chain in the NW). They were so addicting. I can easily eat 20 in one sitting. Yah, what a pig! Anyway, since moving to MN, only found one place that had it (Origami Sushi Restaurant). Update: For Minnesotans, I’ve heard that Giapponese Sushi, Midori & Obento-Ya also have takoyaki.
There are a lot recipes on the internet, but here’s the one I used:
Makes approximately 30 or more balls
- 2 Cups flour
- 4 Cups dashi soup *
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Cup octopus chunks (boiled)
- 1 Cup diced green onion
- 1 Cup chopped pickled red ginger (beni shoga)
- 1/2 Cup oil
- Kewpie mayo or good mayo like Hellman’s (do not use Miracle Whip!)
- takoyaki sauce or Bulldog sauce
- aonori (green seaweed powder)
- katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
Mix eggs & soup to the flour. Heat pan over medium high heat. Brush oil each cup in pan. Ladle the batter into each cup. Drop octopus, green onion & ginger into each cup. Grill until brown, and keep turning each ball until each side is browned. Once they’re cooked, move them to a plate, brush on the takoyaki sauce, squeeze mayo over them, and sprinkle the bonito flakes & aonori over them. Don’t eat them right away, or else you’ll burn your mouth, but it’s best to eat them while they are still warm. The inside is supposed to be a little gooey.
* To make dashi soup, boil 4 cups of water, add 2 tablespoons of hon dashi soup stock granules. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat & let slightly cool before mixing with flour & eggs.
Japanese mayo, which the hubby thinks was invented in the US, but it is actually used in some parts of Japan.
My takoyaki pan that I ordered from Amazon. It comes with a metal pick and oil brush.
Takoyaki sauce which tastes very similar to tonkatsu sauce. I bought this at the Korean market on Snelling. I also saw it at United Noodle too.
All these can be found at your local Asian store.
I still can’t believe I chopped off the heads! I have never worked with octopus before, so I was kind of grossed out. There are several sites that guide you on gutting the octopus, but I just couldn’t do it, so I just chopped off the heads & only worked with the tentacles. It was really slimy & weird feeling. I still get the heebie jeebies thinking about it. Anyway, I quickly threw the tentacles in a pot of boiling water, and cooked them for about an hour. And then chopped them up into bite sized pieces.
Using the metal pick to scrape around the balls. (I saw the pros in Osaka do that on YouTube.)
It is really easy to flip around after they’re cooked.
Yum yum!